


Alamma

by ambiguously



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Dreamsharing, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-07-31 15:11:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20117137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/pseuds/ambiguously
Summary: Rey finds herself inside a dream world with Kylo.





	Alamma

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lucymonster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucymonster/gifts).

Everything was wrong.

Rey had been exploring a new planet, one the Resistance hoped to be using for a relief base. She'd been wearing the same dull beige uniform as the rest of the pilots did when they weren't on duty, and sturdy boots. She'd carried a pack with equipment and rations. She had been talking with Finn, joking with him as they walked. She knew exactly where she should be. They'd gone two clicks from the landing site, looking into energy readings on his scanner. They'd found...something.

And now she was here, her head swimming.

Rey shivered at the unnatural softness covering her from neck to ankle: a white fabric that shifted and slid beneath her fingers. Her feet were snug in well-fitted slippers. Her pack was gone. Her lightsaber, the newest one she'd constructed and the only one that worked the way she wanted, was missing. The only burden she carried was a gem on a long chain at her neck, which flashed blue and black and green as she pulled it to her face, examining the fire in blinking confusion.

She closed her eyes, willing away the vision. She'd been walking with Finn, and his scanner had led them through the heavy forest to a ruin piled high with weathered and broken stone. She remembered stepping inside the clammy darkness of a broken arch.

This room was filled with a dull light. A small table and deep chairs made a cozy space near one blank wall. There was no other adornment.

She stepped towards one wall, placing her hand against the surface. It was warmer than she expected. The blank whiteness swirled where she touched, and she pulled back. A moment later, the swirl turned the opaque surface clear, an oval window peering out. She stared.

The planet they'd been exploring was a wild wasteland, overgrown with damp, mossy trees and ancient brown vines. The view she looked out upon now stole her breath: rolling green fields edging to a lake, and in the distance, mountains frosted with snow. It wasn't where she'd been a few moments ago. It wasn't anywhere she'd been before in her life.

She heard a whisper behind her. Rey spun, arms raised in defense. The opposite wall swirled and opened into another oval, this one an open portal.

Rey wished she could say she was surprised that Kylo Ren stood at the doorway. Her hands formed into fists as he stepped through. She'd never seen him in these clothes. Instead of his usual black, he wore a fine gray tunic, matching trousers, and a shimmery cape that covered his shoulders but left his arms free.

"What did you do now?" She pitched her voice with anger, and heard the words come out with exasperation instead. "You can't keep me here."

He gave her what he probably thought was a withering glance as he walked past her to the window. It fit on his face like a pout.

And that was their problem. They were sworn enemies. He was the figurehead leader of the First Order. She was the last living Jedi, her lot thrown in with the Resistance to overthrow him and his foul regime. Officially, they hated each other. Less officially, they shared a mental link which allowed them to communicate several times per week, and no thought was too hidden for the other to dig out. He knew her entire Jedi training came from a day with his uncle, a handful of books, and a natural aptitude. She knew his brain sparked with enough self-loathing to power the cargo freighter he daydreamed about stealing in order to fly away from his problems.

"I thought it might be here," he said. He turned, and went back to the door, gesturing to her impatiently. "Come on. This won't last long."

She glared at him, then followed with reluctance. Kylo always aimed for an air of detachment, and he always missed. Today's mood was pleased and almost giddy, the same he felt whenever they discovered something new together. Rey almost wished for his tempestuous rage. She could deal with his tantrums. When he was happy and curious, she could nearly let herself believe Ben was within reach, and could be brought back to the side of the Light, and it hurt.

"Did you bring me here?"

"No. I've been here many times. I didn't think you'd be able to join me." He led her down the bright corridor and outside to a high balcony. Rey felt the fragrant breeze on her face, warm but with a bracing promise of chill. The scent of blossoms she'd never seen drifted past, promising deep thickets of bloom, and hidden, shadowed spaces under fragrant, colorful canopies where lovers could embrace unseen.

She knew where she was now. Rey had heard a story once, almost a fairy tale, but the storyteller hadn't been one for fancies.

"We're on Alderaan," she said. "How?"

"I dream about living here all the time. Mother told me stories." He looked at Rey. "I assume she must have told you."

She had, after half a bottle of wine on the anniversary of the destruction, of the Rebellion's first great victory, of the day General Organa had met two of the three people she'd love more than anyone else in the galaxy. The third stood beside Rey now. He was why the other two were gone, and that was the reason Rey could not let her guard down, not for a moment. "This is a dream."

"You've listened in to some of my other dreams," he said, and there was an undercurrent of the familiar anger bubbling there. "You should prefer this one."

"I don't have time for this," she said, turning away from the breeze and the gorgeous land rolling away below them. "I'm busy. Send me back."

"I didn't bring you here. You'll have to wake up on your own."

"I wasn't asleep! I was...." She stopped, and she tried to remember. "There was a ruin. I went inside."

"Now you're unconscious. You may as well enjoy it." He went to a bench that lined the balcony. Food had been set out, an array of fruits and dainties with a pot of what might be tea steaming beside the tray. "Hungry?"

"It's not real."

"No, the rations in the mess are real," he said, and she knew he was talking about the food the First Order served. Finn had been very descriptive about the tasteless mush that he'd lived on back in the bad old days. "These are better." Without ceremony, he filled a plate with food and crammed two pieces into his mouth. For someone who'd been raised to decorum, he had lousy manners.

Rey approached the table and picked up a blue piece of fruit. The rations in the Resistance weren't much better, according to Finn, and he would know. She bit into the dream-fruit, enjoying the light syrup that filled her mouth with tart stickiness. Intrigued, she selected a tiny pastry and bit into it expecting sweet and instead tasting silky petals that delighted her tongue with surprise.

"What is this?"

"Alamma. A few sprigs were planted off-world and thus survived the destruction. I ate them at a remembrance festival once when I was a child."

The taste in her mouth soured. This was all created from his memories, nothing more.

"Hello, Rey," said a voice she knew very well. She turned with an easy smile as General Organa approached. "I see you started lunch already."

"You're here too?"

The woman's expression shifted, and Rey understood that she was also part of this dream. There were fewer wrinkles on her face and a softer gaze in her eyes than Rey had ever seen, and she wore a fine gown. "I wouldn't have missed it. Today's the big day."

Rey turned to Kylo in confusion, but his eyes were shadowed, watching his mother. Rey expected to feel an echo of anger from him, but there was none, only longing. "I'm glad you could come," he said, setting down his plate.

"Your father sends his best, but he won't be able to join us. You know how it is."

"Yes."

Rey sighed. She didn't need to know that Kylo Ren dreamed about his parents. She did need to know where she was in the real galaxy. "I have to go." She gave Kylo a cold glare. "I'm sure I'll see you soon enough."

"You can't go yet," said another voice, not one she knew. A man she'd never met emerged from another door and joined them. He was good-looking in a faded way suggesting he'd been very handsome in his long ago youth. The twinkle in his eye as he smiled at her said he knew Rey was thinking precisely that. "Ben, you didn't say anything about Rey leaving."

"She's free to come and go," Kylo said, with a touch of annoyance. "I didn't expect her to be here in the first place." He caught her bewildered look, and added, "Grandfather, is Grandmother almost ready?"

That only added confusion. His grandfather had been Darth Vader. But no, General Organa bore her name and mourned her lost homeworld due to the couple who'd adopted her. She had been a princess once, daughter of the queen, and she'd toasted the memory of her real parents the night she'd spoken of her home.

"She'll be with us shortly. Save her some of the alamma. Those are her favorites," he said to Rey with a convivial whisper.

"They're delicious," Rey replied. "Ben," she said with a careful emphasis, "I have things to do."

"Go do them, then. I didn't invite you here."

Rey saw General Organa share a look with her father before she said, "Are the two of you having another argument?"

"The usual one," said Kylo. "Nothing to concern yourselves with."

"I wouldn't dream of interfering," said his grandfather, with the air of someone who intended to do precisely that. "But you both know you're going to have to sort things out sooner rather than later. Marriages are built on communication."

A chilly flush went through Rey. "What?"

"You have to talk to each other. That's what I told Leia and Han when they were having their issues."

General Organa said, "You weren't good at butting out then, either." She patted his hand fondly and said to Rey, "Don't mind him. Father thinks he's got the secret to making everyone's marriage as good as his."

Around the racing of her heart, Rey said, "Ben, can I speak with you for a moment?"

Organa's father said, "See? It's already working."

Kylo followed her from the balcony to the corridor. "Why do they think we're married?"

"It's part of the dream. Don't worry about it."

"You said you have this dream often." The strange, awful trembling moved her. "Do you dream about us getting married?"

Embarrassment was quickly masked by irritation. "I've heard some of your dreams. Believe me, this one isn't any worse than that sex dream you had about FN-2187 last week." A perverse humor lit his lips. "Did you tell him about it?"

She refused to be baited. "I don't care what you do in your sad little fantasies. I want to go home now."

"Then go."

"You have to send me away."

"I didn't bring you here. You're the one intruding on my privacy!"

They glared at one another, the moment broken by a woman in an elegant, embroidered dress coming down the corridor with a wide smile and bearing down on them. "Excellent timing. Ben, you may escort me to lunch."

Kylo turned to the woman, who could only be his esteemed grandmother. She was beautiful in a cushioned, comfortable fashion, and Rey wondered how much of her existed from Ben Solo's wish for a grandmother's hugs. She offered a friendly nod to Rey. "So glad you could join us, Rey. I know your duties with the Order are important. I appreciate your taking the time to participate in our quaint little rituals." The words had the cadence of practice to them. Rey was suddenly certain her grandmother-in-law disapproved of her.

"Your dreams are weird," she whispered to Kylo, falling into step behind them as they returned to the balcony.

"We've got perfect weather today," said the Queen, oblivious to or ignoring them.

Kylo said, "The weather on Alderaan is always perfect."

The Queen sighed heavily. "Spoken like someone who should spend more time at home. After today, maybe you'll make that effort?"

"Dear," said her husband, taking her hand from Kylo, "are you trying to persuade the kids to move here again?"

"Ben ought to be more involved with Alderaan. I'm getting no younger, and if Leia doesn't want the throne...."

"We've been over this, Mother," the General started, but her mother waved her hand.

"…. which is her choice and her prerogative, then after today, the immediate succession falls onto Ben. He'll need to be ready." She offered a smile to Rey. "As will his consort, even if she's busy saving the galaxy single-handedly."

"Everything will be fine," said the General, and helped her mother sit before she sat for her own food. She soon was deep in conversation with her mother and father, ignoring Kylo and Rey.

Rey sidled closer to Kylo, but his attention was on the others. Contentious relationship with his father and uncle aside, he clearly wanted to belong to a family, even an imaginary one. She knew that feeling all too well, and she knew the dangers of dreaming too long. "You know they're not real. Your grandparents died years ago. The whole planet was destroyed."

"I know."

"Ben, we need to go. I have to wake up now. I'm unconscious in a temple somewhere. I might be injured or dying. Please. I know you want to stay, but I can't."

Finally his gaze broke away from the shadows of his mother and her parents. "I could leave you there to die. It would solve a number of problems for me." The words were empty of threat. She'd seen too much of his mind, even before this. She knew what he dreamed about now.

She waited.

He closed his eyes and slapped his own face, hard.

Rey woke with a gasp in a dark, dank building, her head aching from where she'd struck it on something hard.

"Rey!" Finn's voice was full of worry.

"Over here," she said, sitting up and rubbing the sore spot. "I'm all right."

He came closer, an autotorch in one hand and its reflected glow shone on his face, highlighting his deep relief. "Thank the Force." He gave her his hand and helped her stand. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Let's go slow. I should watch my step better."

* * *

Several hours later, after their investigation and report and a quick visit to Medical to assure she was fine, Rey found herself with the luxury of a bunk to herself for the night. She'd spent so much of her life alone that communal living with the rest of the Resistance held a deep allure. Still, she liked having the odd moment to herself.

She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

She was less surprised than she might have been when her eyes opened and she found herself standing on the palace balcony overlooking the lush, green fields of a lost planet. She was not surprised in the least when she was joined moments later.

"Mother said it was beautiful. I believe her."

Rey didn't have the vocabulary to describe the full gamut of her thoughts. She knew people often created complex fantasies where their lives were better than reality would suggest. She knew he was filled to the brim with regrets and losses, many of them by his own actions, and she knew hiding away in the past was one way to avoid dealing with the problems in his present. She'd done the same.

But it wasn't all ancient history. He dreamed about Rey, too. He'd heard her sex dream the other night about Finn. She wondered if Kylo listened in, accidentally or not, to her dreams where she made love to Ben, the shameful, lustful dreams she woke from in a sweat, her hands between her thighs. They were both too caught up in one another to escape, and they both knew it.

She stepped to the edge of the balcony and looked out. The gardens held giant mounds of flowering shrub, dotted like iridescent boulders on the lawn. Perfect for climbing inside, away from prying eyes, and pulling her lover's mouth to her own. No, not her lover. In this timeless space between realities, he was her husband, and she wanted very much to consummate that marriage.

"Let's take a walk," Rey said, taking his hand and threading their fingers together. He turned to her in a torrent of sudden emotion: fear of rejection, and worry for betrayal, and underlining the rest, an emotion he refused to name but which drove him whenever he spoke her name. They shared this strange link. He knew what she was planning for the cool, shady place beneath the heavy load of blooms.

"Let's," he said, and for this moment in this place, everything was right.


End file.
